NEW YORK, May 15, 2008 Columbia University’s C. V. Starr East Asian Library today announced a three-year gift of $300,000 from The Starr Foundation to support essential services.

Amy V. Heinrich, director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, said, "We are delighted to receive this grant because it provides the rarest kind of funding: money for general operations rather than for specific programs. This grant gives us the flexibility to target our resources where they can have the most impact.”

The gift will support initiatives throughout the C. V. Starr East Asian Library – from infrastructure improvements, to staffing expansion, to collection development. The Library may use the unrestricted funds for on-going institutional activities, such as enhancing educational services and strengthening collection care.

The Library has received generous and consistent support from The Starr Foundation. The East Asian Library at Columbia was named for C. V. Starr in 1983 after a complete renovation, funded primarily by The Starr Foundation, substantially increased the Library’s shelf space, improved its climate control, furnishings, storage and reading areas. The million-dollar donation was followed by an endowment of $3 million, to continue the acquisition work of the library, preserve the library’s unique holdings, and constantly improve its technology. The Starr Foundation awarded the Library a $1.5 million challenge grant in 2005, in conjunction with the Columbia East Asian Library’s hundred-year anniversary and in recognition of its importance to East Asian studies.

The C. V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the major collections for the study of East Asia in the United States, with over 820,000 volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and Western language materials, as well as some holdings in Mongol and Manchu, and over 6,500 periodical titles. The collection, established in 1902, is particularly strong in Chinese history, literature, and social sciences; Japanese literature, history, and religion, particularly Buddhism; and Korean history. The Library’s website is located at: www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/eastasian/.

Columbia University Libraries/Information Services is one of the top five academic research library systems in North America. The collections include over 10 million volumes, over 100,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, graphic and audio-visual materials. The services and collections are organized into 25 libraries and various academic technology centers. The Libraries employs more than 550 professional and support staff. The website of the Libraries at www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb is the gateway to its services and resources.